New comedy thriller from Banshees and In Bruges director gets hilarious first look

Boasting a similar premise to In Bruges, this 2026 movie looks very funny.

The movie sees the writer-director reuniting with Sam Rockwell, who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his turn in McDonagh's 2017 drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Set shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup, Wild Horse Nine follows CIA agents Chris (John Malkovich, Opus) and Lee (Rockwell), as they are dispatched from Santiago to Easter Island by their bureau chief, MJ (Steve Buscemi, Psycho Therapy).

"Amongst the Island's iconic statues, and as the longtime partners wrestle with their dark pasts and present conspiracies, Chris's newfound bond with a pair of rebellious students (Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas) threatens to send everyone’s trip to this remote paradise sideways," the plot synopsis adds.

Check out the trailer for Wild Horse Nine below:

Also co-starring Parker Posey (The White Lotus) and Tom Waits (Seven Psychopaths), Wild Horse Nine looks more overtly comic than McDonagh's last two directorial efforts, The Banshees of Inisherin and Three Billboards.

In fact, its premise about two killers having to keep a low profile in a new setting recalls the writer-director's breakthrough movie, In Bruges.

JOE recently interviewed Rockwell about his animated movie The Bad Guys 2. During the chat, we asked about Wild Horse Nine.

He told us: "Martin is lovely. It's John Malkovich, me, Parker Posey, and Steve Buscemi. It's a hell of a [cast].

"It's 1970s, CIA, fun stuff, guns and things like that… I got a moustache."

As well as Three Billboards, McDonagh and Rockwell worked together on the comedy film Seven Psychopaths and on the play A Behanding in Spokane when it was performed on Broadway.

In fact, McDonagh once said of the actor: “Whenever I write an American character, I’ve always got Sam’s voice in my head.

"He’s so consistently surprising. You can never quite put your finger on him, whether he’s the hero type or the bad guy. There’s a danger and an edge, but he’s got great comic timing too."

Wild Horse Nine will land in Irish cinemas on 6 November, 2026.